Do buybacks outrun new supply? 16 of 22 tokens cover less than 30%

Many projects say "we buy back tokens" or "fees get burned". The real question is whether what holders receive outweighs the new tokens being issued.

How buyback coverage is calculated

⑥ Buyback coverage = paid to holders per year ÷ value of new supply per year.

• Paid to holders (the revenue in ④): burns, buybacks funded by protocol revenue, and fees shared with stakers. Staking rewards don't count, because they are newly issued tokens and are dilution themselves.
• Value of new supply per year: circulating supply growth over the last 12 months (②) × today's market cap.
• How to read it: at 100% or more, what holders receive outweighs new issuance. Below 30%, most new supply is not offset, and holders who don't stake are being diluted.

All 22 tokens

BNBNet deflationHYPENet deflationQNTSupply flatBATSupply flatTRX272%UNI78%NEAR13%LINK7%ICP4%AVAX2%ETH1%SOL1%APT1%HBAR0%SUI0%ADA0%DOT0%ALGO0%ATOM0%GRT0%STRK0%OP0%～16%

0%30%100%

Four things the numbers show

1. ETH: about $46M burned a year, about $3.4B of new supply

"ETH is deflationary" is a common claim. Over the last 12 months, what ETH paid to holders (mostly burns) annualizes to about $45.95M. Over the same period circulating supply grew 1.2%, worth about $3.38B at today's market cap. Coverage is about 1%.

2. The 5 tokens that cover it do so for different reasons

• BNB and HYPE: circulating supply shrank over the past year (net deflation); holder revenue comes from burns or buybacks.
• TRX: 272% coverage. About $299M a year goes to holders, against about $110M of new supply.
• QNT and BAT: almost no new supply last year, so they are green without any buybacks.

3. Eight tokens are at 0%

HBAR, SUI, ADA, DOT, ALGO, ATOM, GRT and STRK pay almost nothing to holders in the data, so all of their new supply is dilution. SUI's and STRK's circulating supply grew 13.6% and 75.8% over the past year.

4. UNI sits in the middle at 78%

UNI's ④ is 3.10% (about $129.2M a year), second among the 30 tokens after HYPE. Its coverage of 78% falls between covering new supply and being diluted.

Read this number with care

• Revenue is annualized from the last 90 days. The source is DefiLlama holders revenue, so an unusually strong or weak quarter moves the result.
• Falling prices flatter coverage. The value of new supply uses today's market cap. When prices fall, the denominator shrinks and coverage rises, which does not mean things got better.
• OP is a range (0%–16%). Sources disagree, so it is marked "pending verification".
• This is not financial advice. These numbers describe the past year's flows. They don't forecast prices.

Sources

• All numbers come from the TokenWorth data of 2026-10-25. Each token's values, source links and calculations are on its token page (tap a token in the chart above).
• Indicator definitions and thresholds: the Guide on the homepage.
• Raw data: DefiLlama holders revenue (paid to holders), CoinGecko (market cap, circulating supply).